Cancer survivor Joy Rubeo of the Springford 5/6 Grade Center with a giant pig in the school lobby which signifies the smaller piggy banks throughout the school used to fundraise for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.
Photo by Kevin Hoffman, The Mercury

Outside of just a three-week period she took off for her mastectomy, Rubeo worked. She was changing jobs from working in the school’s library to going to the guidance office.

“That was a great distraction,” she said. “I set my mind to doing that. We all cope differently. In retrospect, that may not have been the healthiest thing to do.”

Just six months after her initial diagnosis, Rubeo had already formed her first Race for the Cure team which just consisted of her sister and two friends.

This Sunday, 118 members of the Spring-Ford team consisting of 22 5/6 Grade Center staff members, family, friends, students, and their parents will participate in the event supporting those fighting breast cancer.

“It’s very much become a treasured tradition for us,” Rubeo said.

Within Rubeo’s group is a dozen breast cancer survivors, some of whom are parents of students in the school. This year alone, two parents in the school have been lost to cancer.

“Their parents are in that age group,” said 5/6 Grade Center Principal Heather Nuneviller of her students. “These kids don’t have a lot of resiliency skills built up yet ... so it does mean a lot to them that there’s that support group built up.”

Small, plastic piggy banks are set up throughout the school where students can drop off donations of their spare change to go toward the Race for the Cure.

“It’s not about how much we raise. It’s more about that life lesson we share with them,” Rubeo said. “A penny doesn’t make a difference, but when you collectively put together many pennies it does make a difference.”

Those pennies added up to approximately $5,500 last year and $86,805.14 since the team has been participating in the race.

Rubeo said students brought in spare change from their homes and even birthday money.

“It’s more about feeling good about something you did than taking something home with you,” Rubeo said. “It means a lot to them to hear that they raised $100, $50, $30.”

Nuneviller came to the school just two years ago but knew about Rubeo beforehand.

Her niece, Grace, was a student at the school when her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. Grace became involved with Rubeo’s Race for the Cure team.

“I knew how much it meant for Grace to be with Joy, to have that strength with her,” Nuneviller said, tearing up.

Although Rubeo’s been cancer-free for many years, it’s still struck hard in her family. Rubeo’s sister-in-law, Michelle Rubeo, died of breast last spring at 46.

“She had a very aggressive form of breast cancer,” Rubeo said. “It’s just one of those things.”

Michelle had gone to survivors’ lunches with Rubeo in the past.

“I never, in my wildest dreams, imagined she would go with me as a survivor,” Rubeo said. “A short amount of years later, I was going with her as a supporter rather than the other way around ... it was definitely a challenge to get through.”

“For us, (the Race for the Cure) is really about hope,” she said. “It’s really amazing to see how many survivors there are, the (Philadelphia Museum of Art) steps, the pink, the whole thing. For me, it’s not intimidating. It’s more of an amazing, hopeful experience.”

IF YOU GO

East Pikeland-based Zumba Fitness with Jana is doing its now-annual warm-up routine before the Race for the Cure at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s steps.

In 2013, they raised $16,560 and, according to the official Race for the Cure Philadelphia website Monday morning, they already exceeded that total by several hundred dollars.